Really depends on how well the season is going, and sales on when prices are rediced. post-Christmas is normally the first time, and then again after next year's designs come out.

I have UK size 3 feet so can generally get a bargain in shoes at anytime.

There are some great boot fitters at the ski shop which is somewhere on the block of 2nd / 3rd and Fir - near Burrard St bridge. I find a lot of the shops on 4th around that area are more about the fashion part of skiing / boarding, rather than just straight practicality.

Where was Mrs B having her lesson?

We were up Seymour at the weekend, although this is the first weekend that we didn't ski of the season - instead we spent Saturday building a snowcave adn then slept in it overnight and came back down on Sunday.

If you dont know what you are doing, go to the local ski shop to be outfitted.

They do know what they are doing, so you will only have to buy once, which might not be the case if you buy whats on offer at the local Sport Chek.

I have never regretted paying a little more at my local specialist store to get the right gear for me and my circumstances.

We have too.......Mr P is determind I will learn to ski. I am proud to say I can now come down the green slope at Rabbit Hill.

We are off to marmot the end of the month......can't wait I am like a big kid.

As for the ski's we took the package deal for the family...$199 all rental equipment for the season!

Just need it to warm up a little....we are missing ski time

Where have you been skiing?

Linda

I agree....we bought boots on 'offer' a couple of years ago, the assistant told us that they would fit better once 'broken in'.

Mine are fine but Mr P's are useless....

There is a great shop in Edmonton .....Sundance it's on 104 st 79 Ave

WWW.sundanceskishop.com

Linda

That sounds like it might be the Snow Covers shop. Their web site makes them sound expensive. Still, can't hurt to go along and have a chat. Lessons were up at Cypress - we've got a package of five lessons this year.

Crikey.

My wife purchased some Lange ski boots last weekend - they were last season's colours/model and were discounted from $550 to $155 (after some haggling with the sales guy ) - that was at Sportchek. We'd visited several stores and compared prices and seen how keen they were to do a deal on boots. Took most of a day to get her sorted out, but definitely worth shopping around.

in the end we went to sportcheck, boxing day sale, simply because they were cheap, and so is my wife. so armed with a smattering of knowledge, as the sales assistant had none(seriously he coughed to never having skied(?)in his life) we came away with nordic and head boots,$120, $50 respectfully in sale, both heavily discounted, bog standard poles, $30, atomic skis and bindings $279, head skis and bindings $250. then we got my daughters as well if you are interested.
after several trips to snow valley and rabbit hill in Edmonton, no lessons, making it up as i go along, off on 3 day break to lake louise. already adopted the overconfident empire attitude and been on a black run. contributions to forthcoming medical expenses greatly appreciated.

done snow valley and rabbit hill only. rabbit hill much better slopes, though cafe is crap i thought. see what you think of this one if you have not heard of it, this is next after lake louise in a few weeks. let you know how it went if i can type in plaster.

http://www.skitawatinawvalley.com/

Why not just get a Snowboard instead, we get comfy boots

Is the weekend of 29th March likely to be too late in the season for skiing at Sun Peaks? It seems to be drastically cheaper to stay there than our other option, which is the weekend of the 8th.

We went to Big White the middle of March last year, and it was spring like conditions, i.e. sunny so snow turns all slushy during the day, but freezes over night so is pure ice in the morning.

But.....when I worked in the Alps there always seemed to be a random dump right at the end of the season so you never know

My experience of skiing Sun Peaks at that time of year is that it's still OK. Obviously it's still weather dependent, and I wouldn't suggest bothering with the last 2 weeks in the season (April 7th onwards).

I've just had a long weekend there and stayed at the Sun Peaks Lodge, one of the cheaper options. I wasn't expecting much of the accommodation, but was pleasantly suprised - it's website really doesn't do it justice.

If you want something a little pricier, I've stayed at the Delta Sun Peaks too, and it's very nice. Great restaurant (Mantles) too.

It's the Delta we were looking at. It's a lot cheaper that weekend. I assume it's because it's getting late in the season and it's outside the school holidays.

I imagine the drive up from Vancouver should be pretty trivial at that time of year? Since we'll be renting a car we save a fair chunk by being able to just use a bog-standard compact rather than having to get something with AWD.

Yep, the drive should be fine. Allow yourself an easy 5hrs from central Vancouver. Sun Peaks is 45 mins north of Kamloops.

We took a Yaris to Big White last March - no probs.

Took us 8 hours to get to Sun Peaks on the Saturday before Christmas - 1.5 hours was sorting out an accident on HWY 1 just past Harrison Hot Springs because the emergeny services were too incompetant.

We're off to SilverStar this weekend so I'll let you know what the drive is like, assuming that the Coquhala (?sp) is fully re-opened